Vacuum cleaner lid latch construction



Jan. 1968 o. E. HAGGSTROM 3,

VACUUM CLEANER LID LATCH CONSTRUCTION Filed March 28, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 30, 1968 o. E. HAGGSTROM 3,365,743

' VACUUM CLEANER LID LATCH CONSTRUCTION 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 28, 1966 Jan. 30, 1968 o. E. HAGGSTROM 3,365,743 I VACUUM CLEANER LID LATCH CONSTRUCTION Filed March 28, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,365,743 VACUUM CLEANER LID LATCH CONSTRUCTION Olle E. Haggstrom, Trumbull, Coun., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 537,832 9 Claims. (Cl. 327) This invention relates to a vacuum cleaner and, more particularly, to an improved latch arrangement for detachably securing a vacuum cleaner lid to a base member.

In the manufacture of vacuum cleaners, it has been customary to provide a removable lid to permit access to the vacuum cleaner dirt bag and the internal parts of the cleaner. With this construction, it is necessary that a tight seal be provided between the lid and the base memher in order to avoid loss of suction due to air leakage. Thus, an easily operated arrangement for quickly and securely making an air tight connection between a vacuum cleaner lid and a vacuum cleaner base member is especially desirable.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a unique vacuum cleaner lid latch construction which is conveniently located on the vacuum cleaner and which may be readily operated by minute fingertip forces.

It is another object of this invention to provide a vacuum cleaner latch arrangement which is simple in structure and which may be easily manufactured.

In accordance with one aspect of my invention, a vacuum cleaner is provided with a base member having upwardly extending side Walls, and a lid having downwardly extending side walls. Two oppositely arranged inwardly extending lugs are fixed to the inside surfaces of the lid side walls, and two cam latches are rotatably mounted on the base member for moving the lugs downwardly to securely hold the lid on the base member. The cam latches are fixed to a rotatable rod, and an elongated control handle is fixed to one end of the rod. The control handle is conveniently located along the outside surface of one of the base side walls and is provided with finger grip surfaces at its outer end. With this unique construction, minute fingertip forces applied at the end of the elongated control handle are effective to quickly and securely connect or disconnect the lid to the base member.

Other objects and attendant advantages of this invention will be apparent when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vacuum cleaner embodying my invention with parts shown broken away for purposes of clarity in illustration;

FIG. 2 is across sectional view of the latch construction shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial side elevational view of one of the latches shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the latch arrangement shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partial right side elevational view of the vacuum cleaner with the latch control handle removed;

FIG. 6 is a partial cross sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a view showing the inside surface of the fingertip latch control handle; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a portion of the cleaner with the latch control handle held in the hand of an operator.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a vacuum cleaner embodying my improved arrangement for detachably securing a vacuum cleaner lid 2 to a base member 4. As shown, the front wall of the cleaner is provided with an inlet fitting 6 adapted to be connected to a suc- 3,365,743 Patented Jan. 30, 1968 "ice tion tubular hose coupling (not shown). Conventionally, the tubular hose coupling is, in turn, connected to appropriate suction cleaning attachments or tools.

Inside of the cleaner body a dirt filter bag 8 is connected to the inlet fitting 6, and a motor fan unit 10 is positioned at the rear of the cleaner for causing air to flow in the inlet fitting 6, through bag 8, through the motor fan combination 10, and to exhaust as shown by the arrows.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the base member 4 includes a generally fiat bottom wall 12, upwardly extending side walls 14 and 16, an upwardly extending front wall 18, and a rear wall 20. The cleaner is supported by two rear wheels 22 which are connected to suitable mounting plates (not shown) which are riveted or, otherwise secured to the bottom wall 12.

As shown more particularly in FIG. 2, the base member 4 also includes an intermediate plate 24 which is positioned on top of the walls 14, 15, 1S and 29 for supporting the fan motor combination 1% The intermediate plate 24 includes upwardly extending side wall plates 26 and 28 which are spaced inwardly from and arranged generally parallel to side Walls 14 and 16, respectively. An outwardly extending fian e Si is integrally formed at the top of side walls 26 and 28, and as shown in FIG. 2, the flange 3t) rests on the top surfaces of side walls 14 and 16.

The vacuum cleaner lid 2 includes a generally fiat rectangular top wall 32, downwardly extending side walls 34 and 36, a front wall 38 and a rear wall 46. As shown more particularly in FIG. 2, a compressible flexible sealing gasket 42 is fixed to the bottom surfaces of the downwardly extending walls 34, 35, 38 and 49 for providing an air-tightseal between the lid 2 and base member 4. The gasket 42 is compressed between flange 3i? and the end surfaces of the lid walls.

In accordance with my invention, a unique arrangement is provided for latching lid 2 onto base member 4, and for compressing seal 42 between the base member and the lid. As shown more particularly in FIGS. 2 and 3, inwardly extending lugs 44 are positioned on the lid member 2 for cooperating with latches 54. The lugs are generally cylindrical in shape, are formed from plastic or other suitable material, and are oppositely arranged on the inside of walls 34 and 36, respectively.

A generally cylindrical rod 46 extends between the side walls 1426 and 28-16. As shown more particularly in FIG. 2, rod 46 extends through and is mounted Within plate 26 by means of a generally cylindrical bearing aperture 48 which is integrally formed in the plate 26. The other end of the rod extends through a bearing aperture 50 and an aperture 52 which are integrally provided in plates 28 and 16, respectively.

The latches 54 are preferably stamped from sheet metal and, as shown, they include circular apertures 56, and inwardly extending cars 58 for connecting them to the rotatable rod 46. During assembly, the rod 46 is readily passed through the apertures 56, and screws 60 are threaded through the ears 58 and transversely through the rod 46 to securely hold the latches on the rod. As shown, at the right portion of FIG. 2, a coil spring 62 is located between side wall plate 28 and latch 54 for urging rod 46 to the left within aperture 48, and for providing a limited amount of axial movement of the rod for purposes to be more fully described hereinafter.

A uniquely shaped and positioned fingertip latch control handle 64 is fixed to the protruding end of rod 46. As shown, the connection may be simply made by threading a screw 66 through the control handle 64 and the rod 46. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the control handle is elongated and includes a first lever portion 68 which is angled downwardly from control rod 46. A second lever portion 76 is integrally formed with the first lever portion and extends generally parallel to flange 30. Upper and lower surfaces 72 and 73, respectively, of the lever are formed as fingertip grip surfaces to enable the control handle 64 to be readily gripped and operated by minute fingertip forces.

The control handle 64 also includes a generally vertical wall 74 which extends upwardly between lever portions 68 and 7 0. A small abutment stop 76 is integrally formed with the upper portion of wall 74 for limiting motion of the control handle in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. land 8. It can be appreciated that the stop 76 will abut the lower surface of flange 30 and that the control handle 64 will be neatly tucked in an out-ofthe-way position under flange 30 when it is moved to its extreme clock-wise position. As shown in FIG. 7, projections 77 and 78 are integrally formed with control handle 64 for cooperation with a detent rivet 80 to hold the control handle in its clock-wise latch closed position as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5. It can be appreciated that when projection 77 moves over rivet 80, rod 46 will be moved to the right as shown in FIG. 2 against the force of spring 62. As shown in FIG. 6, in order to limit rotation of the handle 64 in a counter clock-wise direction, a projection 63 may be integrally formed on wall 28 for cooperation with a heel portion 65 of latch 54.

The latch arrangement and the latch control handle 64 are uniquely positioned on the vacuum cleaner so that the handle may be made long enough to accomplish two functions. As shown, the handle is longer than the distance from the control rod 46 to the floor. Thus, rotation of the handle 64 in a counter clockwise direction beyond the latch open position may be simply restricted by having the lower edge of the handle abut the floor on which the vacuum cleaner is positioned. However, the more important function of the length of the handle 64 is to provide a long lever arm mechanical advantage so that the handle may be actuated by minute fingertip forces to apply substantial force at the hook-shaped latches 54.

In the preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, stamped sheet metal latch covers 81 are fixed to walls 34 and 36. As shown, the covers are generally semi-circular in shape and are connected to the lid walls 34 and 36 by rivets 82. A relatively long rivet 84 extends through the covers and walls 34 and 36 for sandwiching the lugs 44 between the latch covers 81 and the downwardly extending walls 34 and 36 of the vacuum cleaner lid.

With reference to FIG. 3, it can be seen that the latches 54 include hook-like projections 84 having a cam surface 86 formed on one edge for cooperation with the lugs 44. As shown, the cam surface86 at the outer portion of the hook is located at a further distance from the axis of rod 46 than the cam surface at the bight of the hook for a purpose to be more fully described in the following explanation of the detailed manner of coupling and uncoupling the lid 2 to the base member 4.

In operation, in order to connect the lid to the base member, the handle 64 is rotated to its extreme counter clock-wise position so that the end of the handle is close to the floor on which the vacuum cleaner is located. In this position, the rod 46 will have been rotated to cause the latch hooks 54 to assume the dotted line position shown in FIG. 3. Then the lid 2 is placed on top of the base member 4 with the gasket 42 resting on the top surface of flange 30. Rotation at the control handle 64 by minute fingertip forces applied at the end of the handle will move cam surface 86 into engagement with the upper surface of plastic lugs 46. The cam surface 86 at the outer portion of the hook is located a suflicient distance from the axis of rod 46 so that the hook cannot abut the side surfaces of lugs 46 to push the lid off the base member 4. Continued rotation of the handle will cause the inner cam surfaces 86 to slide on lugs 44, and during this latter movement, downward forces on the lugs 44 will cause the seal 42 to be compressed between flange 30 and the downwardly extending walls 36 and 34 of the lid to achieve an air-tight seal.

A To remove the lid 2from the base member 4, the reverse procedure is followed. The fingertips are merely placed on the top surface of the control handle 64 to move it downwardly in a counter clock-wise direction, to the dotted line position shown in FIG. 3. Of course, in this position the lid 2 may be simply removed by lifting it upwardly from the base member 4.

In view of the foregoing, it can be appreciated that my improved arrangement for detachably securing a vacuum cleaner lid to a base member utilizes a minimum number of parts which may be easily formed and assembled to each other. The latches 54 are readily fixed to control rod 46, and a unique integrally molded control handle 64 is provided for performing a plurality of functions.

It can also be appreciated that my unique vacuum cleaner lid latch construction is conveniently located on the cleaner, and may be readily operated by minute fingertip forces.

While there has been shown and described a, particular embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the invention and therefore it is aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fallwithin the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A vacuum cleaner comprising: (a) a base member having upwardly extending side walls;

(b) a lid having downwardly extending side walls;

(g) a finger grip surface formed at the other end of said elongated control handle so that said control handle may be operated by minute fingertip forces to selectively connect or disconnect said lid from said base member.

2. A vacuum cleaner as defined'in claim 1 wherein a compressible flexible seal is connected at the bottom of said downwardly extending side Walls whereby latching downward movement of said lid will cause said seal.

member to be compressed between the upwardly extending walls of said base member and the downwardly extending walls of said lid.

3. A vacuum cleaner as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said upwardly extending side walls includes two spaced generally parallel plates, and said rod extends through and is mounted within one of the plates of' one of the side walls, and said rod extends completely through both of the plates of the other side wall.

4. A vacuum cleaner as defined in claim 1 whereinone cam latch is fixed to said rod adjacent to one of said upwardly extending side walls and the other cam latch is fixed to said rod adjacent the other one of said upwardly extending side walls, and spring means is positioned between one of said cam latches and one of said upwardly extending sidewalls for holding said rod on the other side wall.

5. A vacuum cleaner as defined in claim 1 wherein the upper portion of said upwardly extending, side walls includes an outwardly extending flange and said elongated fingertip latch control handle includes a surface positioned for V upwardly from said finger grip surface for abutting said flange when the latch control handle has been moved to its closed position.

6. A vacuum cleaner as defined in claim 1 wherein said latch control handle includes an inwardly extending projection, and an outwardly extending detent projection is positioned on one of said upwardly extending side walls for cooperating with said handle projection to hold said control handle in the latch closed position.

7. A vacuum cleaner as defined in claim 1 wherein said elongated fingertip latch control handle is longer than the distance from said rod to the floor on which the vacuum cleaner may be placed in order to limit rotation of said handle in the latch opening direction.

8. A vacuum cleaner as defined in claim 1 and further including an inwardly extending projection integrally formed on one of said upwardly extending side walls for abutting one of said latches to limit rotation of said latches in the latch opening direction.

9. A vacuum cleaner comprising:

(a) a base member having a flat bottom wall, an upwardly extending rear wall and two upwardly extending side walls;

(b) supporting wheels located adjacent to said upwardly extending rear wall and mounted for rotation on said base member;

(c) an electric motor and suction fan assembly mounted in said base member adjacent said rear wall;

(d) a lid having downwardly extending side walls;

(e) two oppositely arranged inwardly extending lugs fixed to said downwardly extending side walls;

(f) a rod extending through one of said upwardly extending side walls and mounted for rotation on the other upwardly extending side Wall, said rod being positioned adjacent to and in front of said electric motor and suction fan assembly;

(g) cam latches fixed to said rotatable rod for moving said lugs downwardly to securely hold said lid on said base member;

(h) an elongated fingertip operated latch control handle fixed to said rod, said handle being positioned in front of said wheels and extending along the outside surface of one of said upwardly extending side walls;

(i) a finger grip surface formed at the end of said elongated control handle so that said control handle may be operated by minute fingertip forces to selectively connect or disconnect said lid from said base member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,310,268 2/1943 Taylor 15-338 2,914,333 11/1959 Kemnitz 15-327 XR ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner. 

1. A VACUUM CLEANER COMPRISING: (A) A BASE MEMBER HAVING UPWARDLY EXTENDING SIDE WALLS; (B) A LID HAVING DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING SIDE WALLS; (C) TWO OPPOSITELY ARRANGED INWARDLY LUGS FIXED TO SAID DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING SIDE WALLS; (D) A ROD EXTENDING THROUGH ONE OF SAID UPWARDLY EXTENDING SIDE WALLS AND MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ON THE OTHER UPWARDLY EXTENDING SIDE WALL; (E) TWO CAM LATCHES FIXED TO SAID ROTATABLE ROD FOR MOVING SAID LUGS DOWNWARDLY TO SECURELY HOLD SAID LID ON SAID BASE MEMBER; (F) AN ELONGATED FINGERTIP OPERATED LATCH CONTROL HANDLE FIXED TO ONE END OF SAID ROD, SAID HANDLE EXTENDING ALONG THE OUTSIDE SURFACE OF ONE OF SAID UPWARDLY EXTENDING SIDE WALLS; (G) A FINGER GRIP SURFACE FORMED AT THE OTHER END OF SAID ELONGATED CONTROL HANDLE SO THAT SAID CONTROL HANDLE MAY BE OPERATED BY MINUTE FINGERTIP FORCES TO SELECTIVELY CONNECT OR DISCONNECT SAID LID FROM SAID BASE MEMBER. 